Almost everyone that uses a computer, or some computing device, is familiar with a ubiquitous management tool called the list. Indeed, computer users maintain lists of e-mail contacts, URL bookmarks, music, digitized images, computer files, and the like, to name just a few. Using a list, a user can organize related items in useful ways. For example, a user can search or sort within a list of computer files for text, or the user can specify the order that certain songs will be played. With a list, a user can display, edit, and manipulate list items.
Unfortunately, as computer users are aware, lists are directed to homogenous items. In other words, while lists manage multiple list items, they manage multiple list items that are of a single type. For example, while a computer user may have lists of URL bookmarks, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, music, images, computer files, the computer user must manage each list separately, e.g., a list of phone numbers, a list of email addresses, a list of music, etc. Each list manages information of a single type.
As those skilled in the art will appreciate, each type of list item typically has various properties, many of which are unique to the type. In fact, in general, list items are included in a list because they share common properties, even though an individual list item's actual content is different. For example, FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 1C are pictorial diagrams illustrating typical displays of lists that may be found on any given computing system. In particular, FIG. 1A illustrates a music list 100 of music/songs available on a computing device. As is common with the display of list times, music list 100 is shown in a tabular format, with columns representing the various properties of each item type. For example, with reference to FIG. 1A, the list of music 100 includes at least six properties, including Title 102, Artist 104, Album 106, Genre 108, Length 110, and Sampling Rate 112. Each row in the list represents an item in the list. For example, the row included in box 114 represents a single song, and displays the title of the song, its artist, the album on which it is found, as well as the song's genre, length, and sampling rate.
FIG. 1B illustrates an image list 130 of images/pictures available on the computer. Images in the image list 130 all have common properties including Filename 132, File Size 134, Date Created 136, Color Depth 138, File Type 138, and the like. Similarly, bookmarks in the bookmark list 160 of FIG. 1C each have common properties, including Web Site Name 162, URL 164, Date Last Visited 166, and the like.
As mentioned above, lists are currently designed include only items of a single type. As can be seen by comparing FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 1C, this is due in large part to the fact that one list type does not share all, if any, properties with another type. However, in many instances, it would be useful to be able to include items of separate types into a single list. Indeed, what is needed is a list management system that is dynamically configurable, such that list items of different types may be included in a single list. The present invention addresses these and other limitations that exist in the prior art.